Carlsen vs. Nepomniachtchi: World Championship – Game 6 Part 2

Greetings chess players. My name is Chris Torres, and this is Daily Chess Musings’ Special Coverage of the 2021 FIDE World Championship Match between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi.

Game 6 was the first decisive game of the 2021 World Championship game and today’s episode is Part 2 of 3 for this truly historic game.

As you recall, Part 1 of this series concluded with Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi reaching the first time control after a fierce skirmish under extreme time pressure. So my second installment begins after move 40 was reached when both players were awarded another hour of time. This gave Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi enough breathing room to put on a strategic masterclass in two rooks versus a queen imbalances. However, after playing 30 more moves in this epic battle, both players were back in time trouble before transitioning into a rook and knight versus queen endgame on move 82. This is where we will conclude Part 2 and we will examine the ensuing endgame in our next episode. Now that I have defined the episodes in this series, let’s take a close look at Part 2 of 3 from game 6 of the Carlsen-Nepomniachtchi Match!

I hope you enjoyed today’s special presentation of part two of game 6 from the 2021 FIDE World Championship Match between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi. For more on the match please visit the official website at https://fideworldchampionship.com. Additionally, please take a moment to like this video and subscribe to my Daily Chess Musings YouTube channel. Finally, be sure to check out DailyChessMusings.com to find my notes to this video as well as thousands of other free learning resources. My name is Chris Torres, and I will see you next time with a special presentation of part 3 of game 6 from the Carlsen-Nepomniachtchi Match.

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Date: December 3, 2021
Location: Dubai UAE
Tournament: FIDE World Championship Match 2021
Round: 6
Opening: D02 Queen's Pawn Game, 2.Nf3 (including the London System)
Submitted by:
Published on: December 21, 2021
Tags: Catalan, Ian Nepomniachtchi, 2021 FIDE World Championship Match between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi, second game of the FIDE World Championship had plenty of drama and surprises, Ruy Lopez, GAME5-EricRosen, Match between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi, DailyChessMusings.com, Daily Chess Musings’ Special Coverage, Chris Torres, Petroff defense, Game 6 of the Carlsen-Nepomniachtchi match, https://fideworldchampionship.com, Petroff variation, Carlsen-Nepomniachtchi match, Daily Chess Musings’ Special Coverage of the 2021 FIDE World Championship Match, FIDE, Game 6, World Champion Magnus Carlsen, Daily Chess Musings, Daily Chess Musings’ Special Coverage of the 2021 FIDE World Championship Match between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi, Daily Chess Musings YouTube channel
Categories: Magnus Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi, FIDE Chess World Championship 2021, Daily Chess Musings

[Event "FIDE World Championship Match 2021"] [Site "Dubai UAE"] [Date "2021.12.03"] [Round "6.2"] [White "Carlsen Magnus (NOR)"] [Black "Nepomniachtchi Ian (RUS)"] [Result "*"] [Annotator "Chris Torres"] [ECO "D02"] [Eco "D02"] { [ QUEEN'S PAWN GAME,D02] Carlsen Magnus (NOR) +31 =12 -4 Nepomniachtchi Ian (RUS) +5 =6 -4 Carlsen Magnus (NOR)-Nepomniachtchi Ian (RUS) +0 =1 -0 } 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.g3 e6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.O-O O-O 6.b3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.c4 dxc4 9.Qc2 Qe7 10.Nbd2 Nc6 11.Nxc4 b5 12.Nce5 Nb4 13.Qb2 Bb7 14.a3 Nc6 15.Nd3 Bb6 16.Bg5 Rfd8 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Rac1 Nd4 19.Nxd4 Bxd4 20.Qa2 Bxg2 21.Kxg2 Qb7+ 22.Kg1 Qe4 23.Qc2 a5 24.Rfd1 Kg7 25.Rd2 Rac8 26.Qxc8 Rxc8 27.Rxc8 Qd5 28.b4 a4 29.e3 Be5 30.h4 h5 31.Kh2 Bb2 32.Rc5 Qd6 33.Rd1 Bxa3 34.Rxb5 Qd7 35.Rc5 e5 36.Rc2 Qd5 37.Rdd2 Qb3 38.Ra2 e4 39.Nc5 Qxb4 40.Nxe4 Qb3 41.Rac2 Bf8 { No longer pinned, Ian's bishop was free to move away from the close quarter combat and from f8 will support black's pawn moving from a4 to a3. } 42.Nc5 Qb5 43.Nd3 a3 { Ian's passed pawn is now just two squares away. } 44.Nf4 { But all of black's pawn require defending and Carlsen plays Nf4 targeting the weak h5 pawn. } 44...Qa5 { But for the moment black's queen can step behind the passed pawn while defending h5. } 45.Ra2 Bb4 46.Rd3 { Carlsen moves his rook to a safe square while threatening a3 a second time. } 46...Kh6 { Ian moves his king to h6 so that his queen is not overworked. } 47.Rd1 { Carlsen drops his rook back to the first rank in route to forming a rook battery on a3. } 47...Qa4 { With h5 defended by his king, Ian advances the queen one square threatening Carlsen's rook. } 48.Rda1 { Carlsen has his rooks ideally placed. Now he just needs to reposition his knight. } 48...Bd6 { Pinning the knight with the threat of another pin. Now if Carlsen's knight attempts to team up with the rooks, black can simply play Qxh4+. } 49.Kg1 { Carlsen sees the trouble and moves his king to a safer square. } ( 49.Nd3 Qxh4+ 50.Kg1 Qa4 ) 49...Qb3 50.Ne2 Qd3 { Guarding f5 in preparation for Magnus playing Nd4 so that there is no threat of a knight fork. } 51.Nd4 { Magnus' knight moves closer to adding a thrid attacker onto the a3 pawn. } 51...Kh7 52.Kh2 { Magnus did not play Nc2 immediately but it could have been interesting... } ( 52.Nc2 Be5 53.Nxa3 Bxa1 54.Rxa1 Qc3 { fork } 55.Rf1 Qxa3 { Here black may have a queen vs a rook in an endgame but white has a nifty way of creating an imprenetable fortress in just three steps. } 56.Rd1 { step 1 } 56...f5 { black can not stop the process. } 57.Rd4 { step 2 } 57...Kg7 58.Rf4 { Step three. We have a draw. } ) 52...Qe4 { Ian abandons his the pawn on a3 in favor of the threat Qxh4. } 53.Rxa3 { Magnus gladly takes on a3 as with all the pawns now on one side of the board his rooks can start doubling up on black's pawn weaknesses. } 53...Qxh4+ 54.Kg1 Qe4 55.Ra4 { Magnus places his rook onto the same rank as his opponent's queen. } 55...Be5 { So Ian places a pseudo pin with his bishop on white's knight. } 56.Ne2 { A pseudo pin because when the "pinned knight" moves it opens a discovered attack on black's queen. } 56...Qc2 { So Ian moves his queen to c2 threatening the knight while his bishop is still eyeing the rook on a1. } 57.R1a2 { Magnus calmly moves his a1 rook to the second rank threatening Ian's queen while defending his knight. } 57...Qb3 { Ian plays Qb3 instead of to b1 check giving his queen immediate access to d6, e6 and b7. } 58.Kg2 { Magnus invites the check from Qd5. } 58...Qd5+ { Ian oblidges. } 59.f3 { f3 safeguards against checks but creates some longterm vulnerabilities. Magnus is playing for a win. } 59...Qd1 60.f4 { Carlsen is forcing his opponent's bishop to leave its pawn defender thus creating another potential target. Plus, moving the pawn to f4 opens an opportunity for the knight to use f3 for maneuvering. } 60...Bc7 { Again, both players were getting low on time but now that move 60 as been reached they will both get an additional fifteen minutes added to their clock plus 30 seconds for every move. } 61.Kf2 Bb6 { Ian circles the bishop around to target the weak e3 pawn. } 62.Ra1 Qb3 { and Ian doubles up on e3 with his queen. } 63.Re4 { Carlsen adds the much needed defender to e3 while preparing for rook to e8 followed by Ra8. This maneuver will coordinates the rooks into an attack formation against black's king. } 63...Kg7 { Ian sees the potential trouble and moves his king off the edge } 64.Re8 f5 { and then creates the f6 escape hatch. } 65.Raa8 Qb4 { Nepo is preparing his own battery with Qb4 and Bishop a5 which will threaten Qe1+. } ( 65...Qd3 { Could lead to a draw. } 66.Rg8+ Kf6 67.Rae8 h4 68.gxh4 Bxe3+ 69.Rxe3 Qxe2+ 70.Rxe2 { Is a really cool stalemating idea. } ) 66.Rac8 { So Carlsen moves his rook from a8 to c8 so that it will have a path to come back to the first rank after black plays Ba5. } 66...Ba5 { Nepo is threatening Qe1 again. } 67.Rc1 { Defending e1 but leaving the rook on e8 undefended. } 67...Bb6 { The bishop returns to threatening the weak e3 pawn. } 68.Re5 { Cralsen finds support for the e-rook while threatening Rxf5. } 68...Qb3 { Ian lets Magnus know that if he captures f5 he will regret it after Qxe3+ and also sets a devious trap. } 69.Re8 { A trap which Magnus avoids. What was the trap? Let me show you! } ( 69.Rh1 { Is a tempting way to start an attack. } 69...f6 { But this is big trouble since the rook must stay in the e-file in order to stop Qxe3. } 70.Re7+ Kf8 { Now where is the safe quare for which the e rook to keep guarding e3 from? There isn't one. } 71.Re1 Kxe7 72.Ng1 { Losing the rook and the game. } ) 69...Qd5 { Nepo centralizes his queen. } 70.Rcc8 { and Carlsen connects his rooks again in the eigth rank. } 70...Qh1 { Nepo moves his queen to h1 creating what i refer to as the power formation between the queen and king. A knights move is the one piece a queen can not copy but good things tend to happen when a queen has her opponent's king a knight move away. } 71.Rc1 { Carlsen doesn't want to test this theory so he quickly shoos the black queen away. } 71...Qd5 72.Rb1 { Carlsen threatens Nepo's bishop while still guarding h1. } 72...Ba7 { ?! Not the best choice for black but both players were staying above five minutes on their clock by using the 30 second increment. } ( 72...Bc7 { Gives the bishop more options and white no advantage. The pieces can continue to circle around eachother... } 73.Rg1 Qd7 74.Ra8 Qd5 75.Ra4 Qb3 76.Ra8 Bb6 77.Re8 Qd3 { But with careful play, neither side will make progress. } ) 73.Re7 Bc5 74.Re5 Qd3 { Ian's Queen threatens e3 and b1 and Magnus was under 2 minutes. } 75.Rb7 Qc2 76.Rb5 { Magnus coordinates both of his rooks on the fifth rank which has plenty of targets. However, he is down to 30 seconds on his clock. } 76...Ba7 77.Ra5 Bb6 78.Rab5 { But with a 30 second increment, Carlsen is wise to repeat some moves. } 78...Ba7 79.Rxf5 { The first of black's isolated fifth rank pawns falls. } 79...Qd3 { Ian returns to threatening Qxe3+. } 80.Rxf7+ { This what a key moment in the game. Very low on time and under trememdous pressure on the board, Magnus Carlsen simplifies in a complicated manner as simply adding an extra defender would have been less accurate. For instance... } ( 80.Rfe5 Bxe3+ { drops a pawn. } 81.Rxe3 Qxb5 { Would leave black with a small advantage. } ) 80...Kxf7 81.Rb7+ Kg6 82.Rxa7 { Maintains the e3 pawn and white has a small advantage. } 82...Qd5 $20 { 1-0, Carlsen Magnus (NOR) 2872 - Nepomniachtchi Ian (RUS) 2774 , Dubai UAE 12/ 3/2021 FIDE World C } *